Good news about cheaper anti-retroviral drugs went hand in hand with predictions of devastation and growing numbers of Aids orphans on the commemoration of World Aids Day on Monday.
South African politicians alternatively praised the government for taking the first steps in rolling out anti-retroviral treatment for HIV-Aids sufferers and berated it for its lack of commitment to the plight of sufferers.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced in Geneva, Switzerland, that three new generic products had been added the list of medicines used in HIV-Aids treatment.
Monday also saw the launch of the ”three by five strategy” of the WHO and UNAids — the strategy envisioned to treat three-million people living with HIV-Aids by 2005.
”As the World Health Organisation and UNAids today launch their 3 by 5 strategy to treat three-million people living with Aids by 2005, there is already substantial progress in one key area,” the organisations said in a joint statement.
”WHO is adding three new generic products for first-line Aids treatment to its list of medicines meeting WHO standards of quality, safety and efficacy.”
The products added to the list are fixed-dose triple therapy combinations containing lamivudine, stavudine and nevirapine.
”Their introduction in the list of quality medicines will increase choice and competition, thus contributing to make Aids treatment progressively more affordable.”
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a statement released in Rome, Italy, that the steady advance of HIV-Aids was plunging rural households in Africa into poverty and hunger.
”Recent research carried out by FAO in selected rural communities in Sub-Sahara Africa heavily affected by HIV/Aids, shows the complex effects of the pandemic on rural communities and their livelihoods, ranging from a deepening of household debt levels, to forcing children out of school and changing farming techniques and diet.”
FAO said women who lost husbands to the pandemic suffered the worst, often losing farming land, agricultural equipment, livestock and also the ability to grow food for their families. The organisation said some seven-million agricultural workers had died from Aids since 1985 in the 25 most affected countries.
”The most-affected African countries in particular, could lose up to 26% of their agricultural labour force.”
The pandemic was creating uneven distribution of wealth between male and female headed households with Aids orphans, according to a study done by the FAO.
”The study showed that female and grandmother headed households are caring for a greater number of Aids orphans but with fewer resources. To cope, many households sell off their assets or withdraw their grandchildren from school as they cannot afford to continue to pay the fees.”
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said at the Mildred Ward Centre, which takes care of Aids orphans in Pietermaritzburg, that World Aids Day was a bittersweet occasion.
”It is bitter because we are reminded of the millions of children in our country and on our continent who have been orphaned as a result of the HIV/Aids pandemic,” Leon said.
”It is sweet because we know that through projects like the Mildred Ward Centre, we can make a real difference.”
Leon lashed out at the government, saying that five-million people in the country, who were living with HIV-Aids, were still asking when they would receive medicine.
”The national government has not yet answered these questions. But it must. Every day, there are still roughly one thousand South Africans dying of Aids. If we do not act quickly, there will be close to 400 000 more deaths in the next year — the equivalent of a town the size of Pietermaritzburg, plus its surrounding areas,
simply wiped off the map.”
He said an ”all-out war” was being waged against the pandemic and every possible resource had to be mobilised. Leon said Aids orphans were falling through the cracks in the social grant system of the government.
Western Cape premier and leader of the New National Party (NNP) Marthinus van Schalkwyk said at the launch of the first public-private HIV-Aids treatment site in that province that an important stride had been made in combating the pandemic.
He said the launch of the public-private initiative at the GF Jooste hospital was significant since it came less than two weeks after the approval of the government’s national HIV-Aids treatment plan.
”The impact of this approval, coupled with the announcement by the National Minister of Finance of another R1,9-billion to fund anti-retroviral treatments, and the recent drop in treatment prices to just more than R80 per patient per month means that we are now in a position of strength ready to make serious in-roads into the treatment of people living with Aids,” Van Schalkwyk said.
North West premier Popo Molefe said at a commemoration held in Orkney that the battle against the HIV-Aids pandemic could be won with the government’s ”comprehensive and integrated approach”.
”On this important day, we must applaud the recent strategic intervention by our government to introduce a rollout plan for anti-retroviral drugs in public hospitals as part of a comprehensive response to the challenge of HIV/Aids”.
Molefe urged the people in the North West to swiftly implement the anti-retroviral programme.
He said World Aids Day should be used to make a commitment to support and care for people suffering from the disease. – Sapa
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